it is the principle of the thing, after all. people who really need help and they may not get it as a result. that is my two cents more. thank you for joining us. don't forget to dvr the show if you can't catch us live aid have a great night. lou: and good evening, everybody, i am actually webster in tonight for lou dobbs. an election that was supposed to be all about the struggling economy, right? now leading to questions over the president's handling of foreign policy and the administrations truthfulness to the american people. to reporreport the united states diplomats in libya asked the obama administration repeatedly for additional security right up until the september 11, 2012 attacks. house oversight committee chairman darrell ice looking to secretary of state

hillary clinton for answers. telling congressmen issa the extra resources are being denied despite firebombings and online death threats. vice presidential nominee paul ryan seizing onnthe commission to launch attacks at the democratic ticket. >> feature if you turn on the ty you can see that the obama foreign-policy is unraveling before our eyes. it's not just an isolated incident where we lost four americans in libya. that's tragic. but it is part of a bigger story of the unraveling of this agenda all over the world. we have distanced our ally, israel, we are not advancing our interests in the middle east, and the president is promising we will have these devastating cuts to our national defense. ashley: meanwhile the white house engaged in a series

of secret talks on the attack on al qaeda. it included the possibility of unilateral military action against al qaeda in the region. yet still american diplomats on the ground in libya denied additional security to ensure their safety. we take up all this right here tonight, we have retired lieutenant colonel, and also, moody's chief economist on why wall street might not care who wins this election. america's security and the obama administration's handling of foreign affairs quickly becoming one of the top issues with 35 days to the election. and one day before the very first presidential debate. as the white house continues to stonewall cracks in the deadly september 11 attacks in libya continued to emerge.

fox news correspondent has more in our report. >> how secure was the u.s. consulate in benghazi before the attacks on 9/11? top republicans on the house oversight committee in a letter to secretary of state hillary clinton shows the security was unstable and unraveling and plead for help rejected. santa made repeated requests increase security and were denied by officials in washington. >> we saw a pattern making us question whether there was ever enough security and whether they heeded the warnings. >> committee chairman darrell issa is drawing attention for june 11. >> the most disturbing was of absolute attempt to assassinate the british ambassador that could have succeeded and obviously cast real questions on whether our ambassador was properly protected.

>> estates spokesperson said they would respond to the oversight committee today adding. >> saying we are still working through what we have in the building in terms of documentation and information about what we knew, who knew what, when they knew it. >> these letters appear to have had similar allegations so the state department refused to get involved in the feud between bloom of libya, security license holder and operations planner. providing local guards. a source with knowledge of two meetings, one in june and a second in july tells fox a libyan contract holder felt the security provided by the blue mountain was substandard and the working conditions for unacceptable. they tried to bring in an american contractor, state department contract officer apparently shut it down. u.s. government is not required to mediate any disagreements between the two parties of the blue mountain libya partnership.

saying it is currently satisfactory. there was no immediate response on the comment. a u.s. official is not denying reports the administration is laying the initial groundwork behind the attack as many as one dozen possible targets, ashley. ashley: thank you very much. let's get into this a little bit more, joining me now, retired united states army lieutenant colonel and former fox news middle east former senior advisor to governor romney and also author of the book "the coming revolution, struggling for freedom in the middle east." as we get more details on the events prior to the benghazi attacks it appears in the days, the weeks and the months prior

there was plenty of warning signs. why is it these were the very least ignored? >> the main problem the administration has in libya is being unable to connect information from the various agencies. the fact there are militia on the ground proceeding as rebels. penetrated by al qaeda. because it was not visible in the administration, were penetrated by al qaeda. ashley: livia one of the most dangerous areas in the world, i know in hindsight 2020, but in your opinion was protection adequate enough? >> evidently not.

clearly you bring all of your activities and your agency repetitiveness and military representatives imagery and so forth. good intel assessment will point this out. it is a good indicator. what i would like to see are the cables that have far more detail and show it very clear indication that something is building in benghazi. the examples you've heard so far are fairly significant, but keep in mind you 20,000 released from the arsenal, tens of thousands of extra weapons, and a lot of people are known to have gone to iraq and afghanistan to fight us. this is not a nice place only to have a couple of people for security is ludicrous. ashley: look, the obama administration claims al qaeda

is on the path of decline following the killing of usama bin laden. is there perhaps part of this they did not want to blame al qaeda for the attack because of those previous statements. >> if they make the statement of a qaeda is on the decline and make it part of a political campaign, of course we see just the opposite on the ground that al qaeda is an extension in yemen, the fighting in somalia, rolling on the border between libya and most north africa countries, definitely that is going to be attack and criticize some o maybe the attitude was ts is not al qaeda because al qaeda is on the path of decline proving that is not true. ashley: can we ever defeat al qaeda in a region so violently unstable? >> keep in mind there is a dividing line between christians

and muslims. you have in nigeria a good example of all the terrible atrocities and violence taking place along that line, but it begins in somalia and goes all the way to the west coast. all of these are being outfitted with a large degree by the weapons they stole out of libya. every indication over the last two years, especially since we went into and helped defeat qadhafi, things have gone in a very bad direction. you think yemen is bad, wait until you see what happens in north africa unless we get serious about this catastrophe. ashley: do you think the obama administration is getting serious about north africa? >> they better be serious because as the kernel has said, if we look at the map, al qaeda is rolling to the synagogue as

big as intercontinental united states. ashley: what about afghanistan? the russians before us a very difficult place and continues to be a very challenging environment. speak of the reason there is no defeat of al qaeda and in afghanistan is because the administration even the last two years of the previous administration not interested in working with civil society to work with the younger generati generation, and unfortunately we are going to withdraw and the taliban will come back and sees as much as they can. ashley: the arab spring, what challenges does it pose with regards to security in the region? >> lebanon is clearly a lost cause, and the israelis are watching. iraq is going the wrong direction, the president has no

solution to what is going on with iran contaminating the entire region. we have a policy that is absolutely bankrupt, it is going to lead to far broader problems across that part of the world and also the underbelly of europe. he think we have had it bad, this rate it will get much worse. ashley: all right, thank you so much. they will have much more on the administration's response to libya and afghanistan later coming up with the "a-team." no more bailouts, national debt is over, but states with pension problems totaling 20 half trillion more, taxpayer bailout ahead if president obama wins a second term? the american economy, millions remain out of work and the fiscal cliff looms as wall street poised for lame duk rallied to matter who wins in november? joining us next.

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heartburn symptoms causedieveice by acid reflux disease.ice. osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels have been seen with nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. talk to your doctor about nexium. ashley: guess what, wall street up 12% since june, but what is supporting this market? joining us in moments, but first, you have to see it on the market, ending mixed on mixed economic signals, dow jones industrial average surging 23 points. the nasdaq writing six and a half points.

spain's prime minister says no plans to request a bailout anytime soon. spain needs to make that request is for the european central bank can step in and stop buying the government bonds and all that debt. the largest fertilizer company says demand in china and india have hurt their profits. falling 4%. sales rising 13% from a year earlier to 1.2 million, core logic say home prices in august rose 4.6% compared to the same month last year. joining me now, chief economist for moody capitalist markets. it is an interesting market right now, seems to defy logic bubbles you have the fed pumping in all this money, are we living in a false reality? >> that is giving investment hope, hope that things will get better. sure, home prices are higher, but up from what, very low

levels. the current pace of auto sales actually still trail the average in 2007 by more than 10%. big deal. the expectation is with the fed and engaging in qe3, the bank of japan bryn mawr, the thoughts and the chinese government, all of this will come together, a nice rejuvenation of global activity leading the market higher. too much wishful thinking. ashley: and the earnings season coming up. they could not only be below estimates that could really be worrying people. >> corporations have warned us third-quarter earnings are not going to look pretty. ceos, cfos, moving sharply lower. the only area we are doing better in would-be areas benefiting from the ultralow

treasury bond yields, home sales are higher because of record low mortgage yield. beyond that don't so much of anything taking place positive. ashley: a lot of money still going into the defensive sectors. it seems to me they are not buying the qe3 party being thrown, still being conservative. >> and why should we? the upside for a number of these cyclical industries is quite limited compared to what else was three years ago. a great skepticism into all the seamless mesh is taking place overseas and secondly whether or not they will work so that global spending becomes enlightened.

ashley: the euro zone debt crisis still not solved but maybe now buying the government bond, is china a bigger worry for a slowdown? clearly slowing down, that they have a big impact. >> chinese exports to europe have declined because of the recession in europe. youthe european union down 23% m a year ago. that hurts. the chinese government i am sure are feeling the same thing. china slowing down because of an earlier tightening of monetary policy meant to contain inflation in china and probably succeeded at containing inflation but in doing so also slowed domestic spending considerably. the world economy suffering more of a problem as we move forward.

ashley: a lot of eyes and the jobs number this friday. perhaps going up from 8.1, 8.2, what are you expecting on friday and how will the market react? >> not much of anything. perhaps it will move toward 100,000 from the level o in the month of august. employment rate edges higher, but likely will be disappointed once again in the pace of jobs creation if only because businesses have expressed so many reservations about capital spending going forward and if businesses are hesitant to increase capital spending, it is unlikely they will hire more workers. ashley: coming up next, state budgets with chileans in liabilities, could we see the fed bailout the state in years

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ashley: a new report shows thousands of millionaires are pocketing on enforcement benefits according to the congressional research service up 2400 millionaires received unemployment insurance benefits during the economic downturn in 2009. some in congress are serious republican senator of oklahoma saying 70 million as unemployment checks is a case study out of control spending. you think? states across the nation now facing a very serious threat.

$2.5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. our next guest blames the problem on political leaders unwilling to stand up against unions. joining us now, ceo of the illinois policy institute. john, you're in illinois, the worst offender when it comes to unfunded liabilities, $167 billion worth of unfunded liabilities. with 28% of the system is actually funded, how can you get into such a mess? >> too much spending, not enough self-control and the unions really run the show and tell the politicians what to do and the politicians are very reluctant to say no to them. the bad news is politicians are trying to get out of this by having the rest of the country bail out the rest of the state spending out of the problem and we are trying to stop that.

ashley: it is all across the country the democratic governor of illinois suggested the federal government bail out the pension programs and then backtracked. what kind of balash did he suffer because of that suggestion? >> he has been very unhappy with his project because we reported the truth that he is backtracked from it but still refuses to explicitly repudiate the policy not only will they not seek or address, move on to california. very responsible relatively speaking. ashley: so the answer is then is to get the concessions.

with all of the public school strike, that didn't happen, did it? >> that is a great example. thought they would be this tough guy taking on the unions more or less in our view role-playing the unions. the main thing he was going for with teacher accountability through better valuation. they got merit pay off the schedule completely, the deal will cost $295 million in the bottom line is teachers won't be held accountable. this is the bottom line on all this, ashley. public employee union members and offaly provider to services to the public and to have a monopoly control, we don't get those services lik but what hapd during that strike. ashley: coming back to the teachers strike and the examples examples, use of that district will be in the red by a billioo dollars next year and another frightening number, 71 fed out of every education dollar in illinois goes to paying teacher retirement costs, how can they

justify that amount of money? >> people who care deeply about education in illinois and around the country really needs to understand the only way you'll have the kind of resources for public education, for health care, is in the public employee unions come to the negotiating table and writes down the overly generous packages the average teacher who retired last jun june 2011 with a 30-year career had $1.6 million in cash when retired. the median income is $30,203, just an unfair burden on working class people. ashley: do you think this issue is getting a lot of play in the presidential campaign? i unfunded pension liabilities is a massive, massive problem but i get a sense it is not getting that much attention. >> i would be surprised and

asked about it tomorrow night, but they absolutely should. very bad decisions, tarp, the auto bailout and of course the stimulus in january 2009 were crisis decisions. reporters tomorrow night should be asking about this, states like illinois and california. ashley: you mention the pension credit, what are you doing to bring this to attention? what are you doing to get heard in congress? >> at launch a website with senator jim demint who has been a great leader on this, way out in front on it, he released a study through the joint economic study that shows a slightly different version but both of them say basically the same thing. a problem transferring wealth from the responsible states to the irresponsible states and jim demint has been very good with this.

ashley: we will continue to track your progress. thank you very much. of course we will take us up with the 18 later on in the broadcast. not bad for union work, taxpayers footing the bill on labor union activity. it is called a official time and it cost us millions. the author is here to explain. in a campaign ad from president obama is not telling the whole truth on governor romney's plan to the economy. >> he would double down on the same trickle-down policies that led to the crisis in the first place. ashley: we have the added and the facts the campaign conveniently left out. the nfl gets political, pro football owners and players making their voices heard on the campaign trail fulfilling from

their bank account. joining us to talk politics and football in just moments.

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ashley: the fbi is trying to determine who shot two border patrol agents killing 30-year-old agent and wounding another. the shooting took place in arizona, a drug trafficking core door 5 miles northeast of the border with mexico. the agents on routine patrol of horseback coming under fire, third agent was not hurt. the last agent fatally shot on duty was murdered back in 2010 with a gun link to operation fast and furious. just last month it was renamed in his honor. public-sector unions lining their pockets with taxpayer money the private sector struggles. taxpayers even picking up the tab for the time government

employees spend working on union related manners resulting in $1 billion every year. joining me now, author of "the new york times" bestseller "shadow bosses." i guess the title says it all. what we're talking about is what they call officially time, this is time spent by government workers, government union workers working on union issues and not actually doing their worjob. >> 70% of the time they spend on general labor management issues it is not handling grievances or negotiating a contract. a lot of it has to do with politics, nobody is watching these guys. three-quarter of the time they spend on general labor issues.

we found homeland security 62 people do nothing but work on union business full-time. lot of others who work 75%. we don't even know what they'ree doing on the union issues because only 23% in grievances and negotiations. ashley: what impact are they having on the economy? >> do you have an hour? two hours? that is what it is all about. this is where a lot of the money is going, a cycle that is it big scam on the taxpayer. from the union to the elected officials, backed the unions, back to the elected officials,

and it is amazing how the money goes. $14 billion, that is the economy of a lot of countries, that is what the union is take in a year. ashley: this is interesting, they would bar unions from contributing to payroll deductions raising money for political campaigns, corporations as well. it doesn't have any impact on them, this is a direct attack on unions, what is your say on prop 32? >> it is a great start. ashley: not the way the unions paint it. >> they say they spend 10 times the amount of money in terms of soft dollar get out the vote, issue advertising, that is not covered by this. the unions themselves say that.

ashley: and it shows. do you think this is going to go anywhere? >> it has been voted on twice before and lost. it is a tossup, people understanding the people running the unions are the true 1%. they give a lot of money to occupy wall street. rank-and-file members in their office around the capital around the white house. ashley: they would've gone out of business a long time of imac ago or filed for bankruptcy. but there is this never-ending supply of money. if they run out, the taxpayer can fill that gap. >> their time to get the federal government to cough up the unfunded pension liability. most of it comes out because the

government employee union. chicago teachers strike, "new york times," the conservative right wing publication, chicago teachers only contributing to present to their retirement. that's unbelievable. ashley: in the red a billion dollars. >> it is good to be a public employee. ashley: it sure is. how does the voter get this under control? >> first step, and we saw this in wisconsin, it is to get the unions to get the employees to have a secret ballot vote if they want a union or not. lots of government workers don't want unions. we saw what happened to wisconsin the minute they were able to vote on having a union or not, 50% of them went the union hall. the good ones don't want unions because the unions will not allow them to negotiate with

their employer directly, won't allow them to eve even talk to r employer. this private organization called the union fix themselves in the middle taking huge amounts of money. ashley: thank you so much for being here. get better soon. work on the voice, apparently sounds like a frog. the president may have hollywood but mitt romney has the national football league. john elway the latest in a long line of nfl legends backing the g.o.p. candidate. not all liberals are falling in line. ben affleck having second thoughts about obama. really? with the spark cash card from capital one,

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ashley: pennsylvania judge handing a victory to democrats after state officials cannot enforce the new voter id law in the presidential election. the ruling expected to appeal to the state supreme court but because we are five weeks from election day, could easily be the final word on that wall. designed to keep minority voters and typically voting democrat away from the polls but republicans argue it is needed to prevent voter fraud. "washington post" calling out the obama campaign saying it is time to retire one of the presidents familiar talking points. >> governor romney believes with even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer regulations on wall street all of us will prosper. in other words he doubled down on the same trickle-down policy that lets the crisis in the first place. ashley: according to the "washington post" that statement

deserves no kill us because it did not cause a financial crisis, several others are to blame including the housing bubble and use of financial derivatives not to mention the president himself extend the bush tax cuts in 2010. republicans a big hit with political donors connected to the nfl. nfl players, owners and staff have donated $1.5 million this election cycle, they have favored republicans 3-1 margin. governor romney yesterday swore the endorsement of an nl imac nfl legend. >> today has been very good day. not only because of what happened yesterday, but because i get the opportunity to introduce to you the next

president of the united states, governor mitt romney. ashley: john elway referencing the broncos win on sunday over the oakland raiders. not a sports icon was in the crowd, colorado rockies first baseman todd helton. he was on my fantasy team. massachusetts helping to determine control of the u.s. senate, no surprise the candidates came out swinging at the debate. elizabeth warren stumbled when she was asked to name a republican senator with home she could work for. can you name some republicans in the senate that you're able to work with on big issues the country faces? who else could you name? >> that is a problem. ashley: that is a problem.

senator scott brown drew a negative reaction when he was asked to name a model supreme court justice. >> justice kennedy. obviously very good and justice roberts. they are very qualified people. ashley: they will face off again next wednesday. the real clear politics polling average so far has him up by less than two points, a close race. a hollywood heartthrob falling out of love with president obama. ben affleck telling the associated press he had high hopes for then candidate barack obama in 2008 this is the president hasn't exactly lived up to his expectations saying i voted for obama last time although he got all things all

people, now he's got a record which makes it nearly different. i obviously have more complicated feelings. he still expects obama to win but added he is more concerned the u.s. is on a permanent downtrend. this comes from the man who made this movie "gili." or the polls biased toward president obama? vice president joe biden putting his foot squarely in his mouth again. we will play the tape. and the "a-team" with so much more. all here next. and here they come.

>> this is deadly earnest. how they can justify raising taxes to the middle class that have been buried in the past four years. ashley: joining me now, "lou dobbs tonight" 18. thank you so much for being here. let me begin with you. mitt romney so quick to jump on this, the vice president saying we have a class. for the past four years. buried with debt, high unemployment, falling income, you name it. what is it with joe biden, should he just keep his mouth shut? >> i want joe biden to keep talking.

he accidentally goes into this truth telling, and i think it is great because we can rely on joe biden. under the heel of the obama economy for four years. we are suffering, joe biden knows this and he forgot to not say it. i don't know if all the main street media will report it but we should not slam romney for jumping on it, that is what the vicvice president said. as the one that is what you call a ready-made gift. >> obviously people are soft. up and down the economy. the question really is joe biden to normal folks, who do you trust going forward and who is going to get you out of this? you may make fun of him but he comes out as a fighter.

ashley: maybe stick to take other people's speeches, referencing when he plagiarized the uk labor leader speech back in '87. >> i remember that, actually. a problem with him now, my question, talk about how hard-pressed the middle class is now, he is right to say that, usually don't you hold the incumbent accountable for the economic woes we are facing? ashley: he blamed the previous president. >> to my point, if the middle class is hurting, i think you hold the incumbent accountable. i don't believe romney has proposed raising taxes on on the middle class, he is raising reckless tax cuts. that i would support. >> the answer, the argument

really is who do you trust to make them better going forward? it seems the president is winning that argument. ashley: perhaps he has been very successful in business, could be a good option. >> exactly. the regular americans really don't start looking at this stuff until three weeks before the election. people might start paying attention. who do you trust? how can you trust barack obama going forward when it failed so miserably the past four years by joe biden's own admission. that is even if you want to blame rusch, you have a guy in the white house who promised us he would make things better, he is made things worse, he is a

failure. >> i am not one of these crazy who do not believe the evidence in front of my eyes. clearly the argument is resounding and working. but you know what, he is very good. ashley: would never have enough time. want to touch on the debate very quickly and what you think the key issues are tomorrow night in denver. late-night funnyman david letterman jumping into the political orders. his controversial statements next. ♪

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i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when

i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter. >> we have not heard from mitt romney and his people. thirty-six days remaining. you want to be in the white house,. >> i don't have a dog in this fight. listen, do me a favor, if he doesn't come on, don't vote for him. ashley: david letterman still pushing mitt romney. we are back with the "a-team." time is running out.

i'm going to go to you first. can mitt romney and he'll to the american voters out there, and it is a slim margin out there. a lot of people know that it is a slim amount of people. >> yes, he can. we need to let them know that he needs to remind people about obamacare and also why he should be president and he should be doing that without being a jerk. ashley: you think he can do that without being a jerk? >> i'm sure he can, there is no evidence yet. [laughter] ashley: his strengths and weaknesses are very similar to president obama when it comes to debating. >> i think that obama has shown considerably more ability to connect to the american people. >> i think sherry is basically right. it offers a clear vision that is alternative to president obama's success.